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What Happened To ADHD Kids When These TX Schools Tripled Recess Time

From 2001 to 2010, the rate at which black children were diagnosed with ADHD increased by 70 percent, according to a study by Kaiser Permanente that was published in the JAMA Pediatrics medical journal.

This very same study by the managed health care consortium also showed that the rate non-Hispanic black girls were diagnosed with ADHD during the first decade of the 21st century increased by 90 percent. The electronic health records of nearly a million children were examined in Kaiser Permanente’s study.

“Our study findings suggest that there may be a large number of factors that affect ADHD diagnosis rates, including cultural factors that may influence the treatment-seeking behavior of some groups,” Dr. Darios Getahun said, according to a Kaiser Permanente report published by PR Newswire.

Dr. Getahun was the lead author of the ADHD study on black children and is with Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Research & Evaluation in Southern California. There are people who will discredit emotion-appealing political theories about race-based disparities, which exist within the various institutional frameworks of American society.

However, it is quite disingenuous for one to discredit facts that are proven irrefutably by science.

“[Kaiser Permanente’s] findings are particularly solid given that our study relied on clinical diagnoses of ADHD based on the criteria specified within the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and that it represents a large and ethnically diverse population that can be generalized to other populations,” Dr. Getahun also said.

Eagle Mountain Elementary (a primary school in Fort Worth,Texas) conducted an experiment in recent history, which resulted in positive outcomes for ADHD-diagnosed children. These outcomes were achieved without the usage of debilitating drugs that are commonly used to treat ADHD.

“The youngest kids at [Eagle Mountain Elementary] now enjoy two 15-minute breaks in the morning and two in the afternoon for a total of one hour of recess a day. That’s three times longer and three more breaks than they used to get,” reads a report about this story that was published online by the TODAY Show.

Six months after the Texas school’s experiment began, parents and teachers alike noticed a difference in the behavior children exhibited.

“Students [were] less fidgety and more focused. They listen more attentively, follow directions and try to solve problems on their own instead of coming to the teacher to fix everything. There are fewer discipline issues,” the TODAY Show’s report also says.